Card “C”
Caller reporting a house hit by lightning.
Q1: Where are you?
Q2: Is the structure on fire?
Q3: Do you see or smell smoke?
If the structure IS on fire, dispatch a full structure response:
Tell the caller…
- You need to evacuate the structure immediately.
- If lightning is still striking nearby, you must get from your house to another shelter quickly. Get to a neighbor’s house, or into a metal-roofed car and roll up the windows.
If the structure does NOT appear to be on fire:
Dispatcher:
- Ask the caller how many seconds there are between the lightning flash and the associated sound of thunder. If the count is 30 seconds or less, the caller is at risk for further strikes. If the count is less than 10 seconds, the caller is in grave and imminent danger.
Tell the caller…
- Stay in your home unless some indication of fire develops.
- If you see fire, or see or smell smoke, then you must evacuate the structure.
- If lightning is still striking nearby, you must get from your house to another shelter quickly. Get to a neighbor’s house, or into a metal-roofed car and roll up the windows.
- Unless you are on a portable or cell phone, hang up until the lightning has passed. Lightning can travel along phone lines and injure or kill you.
